Am I missing something?

Emma's P.O.V.

"So what'd you think? Pretty cool, huh?" Ken stated/asked as he drove me home from the PTA meeting where he, Will, Finn, Puck, and Sandy had just performed their 'Acafellas' number.

I turned to look at his- cheekily grinning- face and resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"Yeah, Ken, it was really… great." I said, nodding. I looked out my window, admiring the lush scenery when a car pulled up next to Ken's. I saw Will smiling from the driver's seat, his parents in the back and his wife sitting in the passenger seat.

We stopped at a red light, and Will's head turned idly in my direction. When he saw me, his smile grew (actually, that was probably just my imagination) and he lifted a hand to wave in my direction. The corners of my lips turned upward and I lifted a hand to eagerly wave back. He laughed good- naturedly at this until his wife (Tammy?) tapped on his shoulder and said something to him. He looked at her and they both laughed, driving off as the light turned green.

I let my hand fall dejectedly back to my side.

"Who was that?" Ken grumbled as he, too, started to drive again.

"Who was who?" I asked, really only half-feigning my naiveté. How could he have not known that it was Will driving next to us? If he'd seen me wave, than he must have seen him. Did he just want to hear me say it?

"Whoever you just waved to." He somewhat explained, his voice monotone.

"Why do you care so much?" I asked, this time out of actual naiveté.

"Why won't you just tell me?" He snapped.

I blinked a few times in surprise and scooted a bit away from him. He'd never taken that tone with me before.

"It was Sue." I said quietly. I instantly became irritated with myself. Why did I always have to sound like a frightened little squirrel? Why couldn't I just stand up for myself for once? What was I even afraid of; that if I talked too loud he'd hear the lie in my voice?

"You seemed pretty happy to see Sue." He said with undertones of suspicion.

There were a few moments of silence before I started talking again. "Well, she's gotten a lot better lately. I mean, she has three Cheerios in Glee club, and she went to that PTA meeting even though she didn't have to…" I trailed off.

"She was the only one in the audience that didn't give us a standing ovation." He countered back, turning to look at me before letting his eyes settle back on the road.

"Well, maybe not everything's about you, Ken!" I snapped, using a tone not unlike the one he'd implemented earlier.

And- excluding a mumbled reply of "I said us."- Neither of us said anything for the rest of the drive.

Will's .

"I wanna sex you up!" My mom shouted, giggling as I pulled to a stop in front of her and dad's house.

"Dad, remind me to lock up the liquor cabinet next time." I said, grinning as my dad and Terri laughed.

"Hey! I take offense to the implic-ca-ation that I-" Mom's sentence was cut short as she leaned against the door handle, causing the door to open and her to fall out.

"Oh my god!" Terri yelled, quickly opening up her own door and lifting my mom by the shoulders.

"I…am…fine! My word, you people are far too protective!" Mom exclaimed once she was back on her feet.

"No such thing, mom." I replied, thinking of what great parents Terri and I were going to be. No child would be hurt on our watch.

"Terri, could you help Denise inside, please? I'd like to talk to my son for a second." Dad requested after a pause.

"Sure thing, Philip." Terri said, putting her arm around Mom's waist and leading her towards the front steps.

"It's good that you asked for this, dad, I actually meant to say this earlier but I forgot. I just really want to express how inspirational it is that you're following your dream of going to law school. I, actually, feel very inspired by your decision. Which might be odd, considering that I'm the one who inspired you to make that decision, but-"

"Son, who was that redhead in the other car?" Dad interrupted.

"Wha-? Oh, that. That's Emma, she's the guidance counselor at Mckinley." I explained.

"How well do you know her?" Dad asked.

"Um, pretty well, I guess?" I said, making it sound more like a question than a statement. "We're friends."

"Really? And that's…all you are?" He asked, carrying a great deal of caution in his tone.

I looked at him in disbelief. "Dad! I can't believe you would ask me something like that. I would never cheat on Terri!" Even though I'd kind of thought about it. Especially after the incident the other day when Emma and I were cleaning up that classroom.

My dad put up his hands. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry, Will. I should have never said anything. I overstepped my boundaries."

"It's… it's fine, dad." I sighed.

"Alright, well, I better get in to tuck in Denise. You know how fussy she gets after she's been drinking. Night." Dad said; and while his tone expressed overwhelming weariness, there was still undertones of suspicion lurking in there.

"Night." I replied, resisting the desire to rest my head on the steering when I, too, became overwhelmed by lethargy.

Finn's P.O.V.

"And then, I just tackled the guy! It was like, awesome! You totally should have been there. I mean, we still lost the game and stuff, but that was still a pretty cool moment." I say, turning to look at Quinn.

"Yeah." Quinn says, not really paying attention. I notice this, and try not to let my smile falter.

It's okay; she just doesn't care about football. She's a cheerleader for the football team, not an actual football player.

I lean against my locker and looks at Quinn again, who's mind appears to be elsewhere. At just that same moment, she quickly turns away, pretending to be engrossed with the 'How do You Live Life When Nobody's Watching?' poster on Ms. Finlein's door.

"Hey, what's up?"

I look to my left and sees his best friend, Puck heading towards us.

"Oh, hey, nothing. Just heading to Spanish with Quinn."I say, holding up our intertwined fingers as if to show him proof. This appears to snap Quinn out of her trance, but she still doesn't face us; she just stares straight ahead.

Puck looks down at the floor for a second, then quickly looks back up at us and grins as we all start walking down the hall.

"Oh, hi, Quinn. Didn't see you there." Puck says, grinning even wider. Quinn rolls her eyes, and then turns her head slightly towards him.

"Noah." She says, calling him by his real name. I blink quickly. Since when did Quinn call Puck by his real name? Since when did anyone call Puck by his real name?

Am I missing something?

"Okay, see you guys, I'm, um-" Puck falters slightly as we pass by another 'How do You Live Life When Nobody's Watching?' poster. He looks at me as something clouds over his eyes. I've never been so confused in my entire life. "- gonna get going, bye."

"Okay, bye." I say, but Puck is already running down the hall.

"What's up with him?" I ask Quinn. Quinn shrugs, and, though the action doesn't call for it, loosens her fingers from mine a little.

Puck's P.O.V.

"Hey, what's up?" I ask my best friend Finn. My eyes flicker over to Quinn, who's looking away and blushing.

While a part of me is proud that just my presence could made her blush, another part is a little nervous. Did she have to be so obvious about it?

"Oh, hey, nothing. Just heading to Spanish with Quinn." Finn says, holding up his and Quinn's intertwined fingers as they all start walking.

A spark of anger ignites inside of me. Did he have to be so blatant about their relationship? It seems like he's really rubbing it in. I look at the floor and takes a slow breath, trying to calm myself down.

All of a sudden, I'm fuming mad at Quinn. I mean, it's obvious she doesn't really love Finn. She's only dating him because he's the All- American Boy. I decide to taunt her with our lack of a relationship, which I just knew she would prefer if it wouldn't give her a bad reputation.

"Oh, hi, Quinn. Didn't see you there." I say, grinning smugly at her. Quinn rolls her eyes, and turns her head towards me slightly.

"Noah." She says simply. Apparently she was going to use the same tactic.

I hate to say it, but…it's working on me. I'm becoming angrier. What am I, a stranger? She's treating me like I'm some unpopular loser that just said 'hi' to her. She addressed me formally and sharply, as if to say 'not interested'.

I call her out on her act. Making sure that Finn is oblivious (which he pretty much always is; I love the guy, but he's not the sharpest tool in the shed), I mouth a few- choice- words at Quinn. Quinn glares at me and looks at Finn pointedly (who is still off in his own little world), but then nods slightly.

I try hard to suppress his grin. "Okay, see you guys, I'm, um,-" My sentence dies in my mouth as we pass by a 'How do You Live Life When Nobody's Watching?' poster, and I feel a twinge of guilt inside. Why am I doing this to Finn? Finn's the nicest guy in the world. He doesn't deserve this at all. Just then, Finn looks at me, and I let all of my guilt show as somewhat of an apology. Finn furrows his brow, clearly not understanding.

Oh well. At least I tried.

"- gonna get going, bye." I manage to get the rest of my sentence out before I began running down the hall. I hear a faint 'bye' as I continue running, not caring who looked at me funny. I couldn't help itl I couldn't stop.

How are you supposed to act when you're about to burst because of all of the emotion you've kept inside?

Quinn's P.O.V.

"Yeah." I say, not even hearing what Finn just said. I tried to pay attention to what my boyfriend was saying, but just then I saw Puck turn down this hallway and quickly turned away, conversation forgotten. My mind had become consumed with thoughts of Puck and how I didn't want Puck to see me and how I wanted Puck to come over here and thoughts of Puck that I really shouldn't be thinking while I'm holding hands with Finn.

I blush at these thoughts and looks over at the poster to my left.

'How do You Live Life When Nobody's Watching?' The poster taunted, the still eye judging me.

I felt a twinge of guilt inside. I still couldn't believe what I was doing. Why I was doing what I was.

Who I was doing the things I was with.

"Hey, what's up?"

Speak of the devil.

I snap out of my thoughts of self- hatred and turn my head to face the front. I only do this so that I can look out of the corner of my eye to make sure it's really Puck, even though I know it is.

I had really, really hoped it wasn't. But I was glad it was.

"Oh, hey, nothing. Just heading to Spanish with Quinn." Finn says, holding up my and his intertwined hands as we all start walking.

I look out of the corner of my eye again and see Puck looking down, perhaps out of sadness. I feel a sudden rush of superiority, happy that the sight of my and Finn's relationship makes Puck unhappy. I look away just as Puck looks back up.

"Oh, hi, Quinn. Didn't see you there." Puck says. Oh, so he's going to play the 'we hardly even know each other, there can't possibly be anything going on!' game?

Well, two can play at that game.

I turn my head towards him and see the wide grin spreading across his face. "Noah." I say, calling him by his real name. I know how much he hates his real name.

I look at Finn, who seems a little disoriented, and then back at Puck.

Your move.

'Supply closet?' Puck mouths, a glimmer of hope in his eye. I frown slightly and look at Finn pointedly. What if Finn had seen that? What would he have thought?

Nothing, probably. He's not very smart. Or maybe he would've thought the truth.

I nod, suddenly starting to get excited. Finn's nice, but he's kind of boring, and his topic of conversation is almost always football. Puck's always interesting.

Then again, we don't really talk much.

"Okay, see you guys, I'm, um,-" Puck stops talking for a second as we pass by another 'How do You Live Life When Nobody's Watching?' poster. I can tell he feels guilty, and curse this school for having so many of those posters.

Why did they have to be so damn effective? Oh wait, that was probably the point of them. I set my sights back on Puck. What I see is him and Finn exchanging a look, and Puck's eyes basically tell Finn everything.

But, as usual, Finn has no clue what's going on.

"- gonna get going, bye." Puck says and then starts running down the hall towards the supply closet. I feel a strange sense of pride; like I'm proud of him for powering through the guilt.

"Okay, bye." Finn turns to look at me. "What's up with him?"

I shrug and, though the action doesn't call for it, loosen my fingers from Finn's a little.

I look into Finn's deep brown eyes and, just for a second, consider telling him what's been going on.

But how do you tell your boyfriend that you're hooking up with his best friend?

"Actually, I kind of have to go to the bathroom." I say, turning in the direction of the supply closet as I let my hand drop from Finn's.

I'm surprised by how easily it slides from his fingers.

So… yeah. Sorry for the over- a- year long wait for a second installment, I honestly forgot all about this story. But now that it's at the forefront of my mind, expect another update somewhat soon!

-CC